Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

19 reviews

alxisrae's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Body horror, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content and Vomit

hmatt's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This one has been lingering on my shelves for years as a highly-praised gift book, so I'm glad I finally got to it. 

YA "romantasy" is wayyy down the list of genres I gravitate towards, but I did find this enjoyable. The world-building is solid, and the characters are interesting. For me, the complexity of the novel is just right: it's not high high fantasy with a million characters and dynamics, but there is enough there for it to be satisfyingly fleshed-out. I'm even contemplating reading the next book in the series...

That said, I'm still rating based on my taste. This is definitely for a younger audience, and it shows in how some of the relationships develop (including the primary romantic one, in which a switch just seems to flick between one chapter and the next). Some of the writing is clumsy or overly descriptive in a gauche way.

I had fun, though! And I hardly ever read physical books over 400 pages, so that's a big win.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, Physical abuse, Self harm, War, Confinement, Cursing, Murder, and Police brutality

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Animal death

Minor: Abandonment

platypusd10's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Self harm, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

stllyltc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It has been stuck on my TBR for so long that I finally got to read it, and with my love for magic and fantasy, this was a real treat. The first book, Serpent and Dove, piqued my interest with its hint at unrevealed backstories and plenty of possibility for more investigation in possible sequels. The characters' deep family relationships with their convoluted secrets gave a level of complexity that really tricked the mind. The idea of a parent sacrificing their child and the contradictory emotions associated with parental love departed from the norm, revealing deceit and the disheartening knowledge that one is living a lie-based life. 

The story explores the dissolution of values that have been imprinted since childhood, only to expose their falsity. It skillfully captured the possibility of love blossoming in the middle of disaster and presented endearing individuals in the midst of all of this upheaval. Together with highlighting the animosity between witches and chasseurs, which developed into an unexpected and intricate love tale, the story also touched on the themes of affection and teamwork among the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Animal death, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, War, Blood, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Drug use, Murder, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Body horror, Violence, and Torture

imaginationindex's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

“Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal. There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned.

Sworn to the Church as a Chasseur, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. His path was never meant to cross with Lou's, but a wicked stunt forces them into an impossible union—holy matrimony.” 

What I Loved:

• Enemies-to-Lovers paired with a marriage of convenience with a sprinkling of sharing-one-bed and “that’s my wife”… 🙌🏻 
• I loved the two secs of witches, Dames Rouges and Dames Blanches. I’m curious to learn more about the Blood Magic as well as
  how Reid was able to do magic when we should have been dying 😅 
• Ansel, you sweet boy! Coco, what a badass! I like how we flipped the script on traditional gender roles
• This is a perfect example of new adult stories; our characters are adults who can make their own decisions and swear.

What can burn (this seems very aggressive but I was going for a theme 🧙‍♀️🔮✨)

• While the fantasy world was a total vibe, there are some moments where the religion aspect of the anti-witch stance gets to be a bit much. That might just be me but the Archbishop needed to relax 95% of the book
• I noticed a lot of re-explaining and telling. I get that we had the dual POV and catch up might have been needed, but I thought it was clearly shown so we could have saved ourselves a few pages.
• Genuine question, when were we? The France inspired world was cool but we had swords and monarchy, but full theatres and working bathrooms 

The building of tension was well paced and I will be continuing with the series with Blood and Honey up next ✨🩸🍯✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Religious bigotry, Cursing, and Death of parent

smuttymcbookface's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Shelby Mahurin created a beautiful, dark world with clashing Christianity and magic within Serpent & Dove. The plot developed wonderfully, with small hints and clues as time went on as to what secrets the characters were holding.

The characters themselves were well-written, both nuanced and flawed, and we were clearly able to see their struggles and trials as they developed into more understanding versions of themselves.

The only reason I've not given this 5* was that I found it to be a little too simplistic/YA at times, with some plots neatly lining up with one another, or ridiculously convenient plans (such as Coco being part of the infirmary and just happening to be able to take ownership of Lou).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Violence, Xenophobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal death and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent

melissafelicia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this story. I liked the vibe of the world, a sort of Renaissance French witches vs religious witch hunters story. I disliked the male mc at first but as his character developed, he started growing on me. The main plot was a bit predictable, but there were still some plot twists I didn't see coming. I'm curious about the rest of the series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death

selestre's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

Minor: Kidnapping, Self harm, Animal death, Death of parent, Sexism, and Child death

ldermer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Vomit, Child abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Domestic abuse and Sexual harassment

pattyblom's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Overall a nice story, but it lacked some depth and world building in the beginning of the story. I also had to reread paragraphs to understand the story. And also the end was

a bit anticlimactic.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Murder, Abandonment, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Child death, Suicide, and Self harm